Replica
This is a replica of the C.S.S. Naval Submarine the H. L. Hunley, which was used in the movie based on the "HUNLEY". It was on view in Savannah several months ago. It’s rebel ingenuity produced floating mines, known as torpedoes. These were semisubmersible vessels carrying spar torpedoes, explosive warheads on long poles. They had been trying to break a hole in the blockade, now the Confederacy looked to its submarine H.L. Hunley, the third in a series of cigar-shaped water craft. It went out on a moonlit night in February against the blockade at Charleston. Just below the surface, she rammed a spar torpedo into a new Union’s steam sloop the Housatonic. With a muffled explosion her victim settled to the bottom. All but a few were rescued. The Hunley never returned. She holds the distinct honor of being the first submarine to sink a warship in combat completing her mission. This is actually a S. C. Monument, but having been on Georgia soil temporarily in Savannah I thought it would be of interest on our web site.
James Pierpont
The Unitarian Church is a small building on Troup Square between East Harris and East Macon Streets. The front of the church faces Habersham Street. The first congregation disbanded during The War Between TheStates because their abolitionist doctrines ran against the sentiment of the town. The building was used as St. Stephen’s Parish and later became the Savannah Baptist Center. In 1997 the Unitarians reclaimed their original structure, picking up where they left off 137 years earlier. The congregation enjoyed the music of the choirmaster, James L. Pierpont, a transplanted northerner, who composed the classic holiday song “Jingle Bells”.
In 1859 -1860 the celebrated case growing out of the slave – running yacht "Wanderer" which was owned by Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar was tried here before Judge James Moore Wayne, Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. Lamar was acquitted because he was not on board. The building is located at Bull and Bay Streets.
1861- 1865.
"Requiescant in pace. Irish Jasper Greens."
In 1862 the bright skies over Bethesda were darkening with the clouds of war. The crops had failed and provisions were scarce. The board of managers from the Union Society of Bethesda decided to remove the boys from Bethesda to a more suitable location near Bethany in Jefferson County. Bethesda Orphan Home was converted into a military hospital for the Confederate Soldiers of the 7th Georgia Battalion Infantry who were mustered into service September 9, 1861 and served on the Georgia Coast. These are some of the soldiers who died of Typhoid fever at Camp Hospital at Bethesda from the Lillian Henderson Roster of Confederate Soldiers:
Pvt. J. P. HughesCo. E 61st Georgia Regiment Volunteer, died 1862.
Pvt. Archibald Wall Co. E 61st Georgia Regiment Volunteer, died May 7,1862.
Pvt. W. R. Clark unit unknown, died 1862.
I do not at this writing know where these men are buried. I list these names as proof of their having been a hospital in the home.
When the invading Yankee ended his "March to the Sea" in Savannah, Ga. and presented Savannah as a gift to the president, ( you know who), Mr. Green saved himself the humiliation of having his house taken as the enemy’s headquarters by offering it to the Yankee General. Charles Green was a British subject and one of Savannah’s wealthiest exporters of cotton did not issue the invitation to the Yankee because of any sympathy with the Yankee cause. He loathed the method of the destructive warfare. As the Yankee General was moving into the front room on the second floor, the Rev. Camaron F. McRae, then rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church (he previously a chaplain in the CSA), had occupied that room, he left the house immediately. He refused to stay under the same roof as the Yankee General. In a niche on the spiral stairway is a marble bust of the Rev. McRae. He out stayed his welcome for more than 5 weeks, inviting noted northerners as well as local citizens. Few Savannahians considered it a privilege to be invited.
Seventeen years later at the death of Mr. Green, the house became the property of his son. It was later the home of Judge Peter Meldrim and his wife, where the hospitality continued. President McKinley, and General Fitzhugh Lee were among notable individuals who visited there. In 1943, St John’s Episcopal Church purchased the Mansion and it became known as the Green-Meldrim House, the rectory and parish house. The grandeur of the house is well noted by Savannahians and they are ever so grateful to the Yankee for having run out of matches before he reached Savannah.
Having founded the Girl Scouts of America, upon her death she willed the carriage house of the mansion to the Savannah Girl Scouts as their headquarters. It was here in 1912 that Mrs. Low organized the first Girl Scout troop in America. In 1928 the house was bought by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia for their headquarters. The Andrew Low house has been open to the public as a museum since 1952.
The church building that stands here was erected in 1859 on land given by Dr. Stephen Dupon. Its architecture is similar to that of the early churches at Midway and Ebenezer. The gallery at the rear of the church was built primarily for the accommodations of slaves.
Symbolic of the hospitality extended by the Church to all faiths is the large key that hangs out side the entrance.
During the War Between the States a Confederate battery stood on the lot mounting two 8 – inch columbiads and two 32-pounder cannons. The Church was used as a hospital for Confederates stationed in the area. The pews (still in existence) serving as beds. Thirty-three Effingham county soldiers sleep in the adjourning churchyard.
The original Nicholsonboro Community grew out of the turmoil War Between the States and the beginning of Reconstruction. When ownership of the lands reverted from the self-proclaimed, "Governor" Tunis G. Campbell ruled these lands from his island on St. Catharines. During the Reconstruction, some 200 former slaves-mainly from St. Catharines Island, Georgia came here and established their own community in 1868. Ten years later, eighteen Negroes signed a mortgage for 200 acres of one John Nicholson’s land. In 1882, upon paying the $5000.00 they received the title. The newborn community was economically based on fishing and farming with Savannah as its primary market. Over the years, new technology and marketing laws became more stringent, the Nicholsonboro community weakened and all but disappeared. A monument to the community, the original Baptist Church, still stands. Community members constructed the tiny clapboard church in 1870. Some of the original pews, as well as a porcelain doorknob, remain. It had no electricity, and a potbellied stove for heat. The freed slaves eventually split up and went to Sandfly, Pinpoint and Beaulieu. The church is on the National Register of Historic Places. Two early pastors were Alexander Harris who served with the confederacy and is buried in Laurel Grove south and Rev. Daniel Wright.
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